Congress, NIA forced me to implicate RSS chief: Ajmer Blast accused

New Delhi, Sept 25: Bhavesh Patel, accused in the Ajmer Dargah bomb blast of 2007, sparked off a controversy on Wednesday, Sept 25 by accusing the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Congress of pressurising him to implicate RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and senior RSS functionary Indresh Kumar in the attack.

Patel's counsel Bhupendra Singh Chouhan on Wednesday submitted a petition in a CBI court saying that Acharya Pramod Krishnan of Moradabad had organised a special meeting with Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, his deputy RPN Singh and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal. Patel, in his petition, alleged that all Congress leaders wanted him to implicate the RSS leaders.

Patel claimed that he had met Digvijay Singh for the first time in 2012 at Krishnan's ashram. According to Patel, Digvijay Singh allegedly had said, "Digvijay Singhji ne kaha tum nishchint raho. Samay aane par jaisa hum kahen, waisa karna' (Not to worry, do what we say: Digvijay allegedly said to Patel)".

Digvijay Singh had asked me to follow their instructions

Later Krishnan allegedly had organised another meeting with RPN Singh and Jaiswal. The two Congress leaders allegedly had assured Patel of getting support from Digvijay Singh. The Congress leaders also allegedly claimed that Digvijay Singh would solve Patel's case if the latter follow instructions by the party leaders.

Krishnan later had arranged a meeting with union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde in Delhi where the home minister allegedly had said, "when you (Patel) are brought to the court, you have to name Mohan Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar and you have to say that you engineered the blast in Ajmer Dargah as per their directions."

Both the NIA and the Congress dismissed the allegations. The latter said it is a premier investigation agency and does not pressurise anybody. The RSS has demanded a thorough probe into the incident.

Both Digvijay and RPN Singh overruled such allegations against him claiming that he had never met Patel. Acharya Krishnan also refused to accept allegations hurled against him. Krishnan said, "It is an utter lie. I never introduced him to anybody or took him anywhere. Some lawyers from Delhi informed me about his arrest in the Ajmer blast case. Until then, I was not aware about his involvement. His brother had approached me for help after his arrest but I had refused."

According NIA chargesheet, Patel allegedly had provided logistical support to a saffron terror module for the attack and carried the bomb inside the Dargah.